The Brownings, Their Life and Art

by Lilian Whiting

AUTHOR OF “THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL,”
“ITALY THE MAGIC LAND,”
“THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE,” ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1911

Copyright, 1911,
By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved
Published, October, 1911

Printers
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U.S.A.

INSCRIBED TO
ROBERT BARRETT BROWNING
(CAVALIERE DELLA CORONA D’ITALIA)
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, CONNOISSEUR IN ART
WITH ENCHANTING REMEMBRANCES OF HOURS IN “LA TORRE
ALL’ ANTELLA” AND THE FAITHFUL REGARDS OF
LILIAN WHITING
Florence, Italy,
June, 1911

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FOREWORD

The present volume was initiated in Florence, and, from its first inception, invested with the cordial assent and the sympathetic encouragement of Robert Barrett Browning. One never-to-be-forgotten day, all ethereal light and loveliness, has left its picture in memory, when, in company with Mr. Browning and his life-long friend, the Marchesa Peruzzi di’ Medici (náta Story), the writer of this biography strolled with them under the host’s orange trees and among the riotous roses of his Florentine villa, “La Torre All’ Antella,” listening to their sparkling conversation, replete with fascinating reminiscences. To Mr. Browning the tribute of thanks, whose full scope is known to the Recording Angel alone, is here offered; and there is the blending of both privilege and duty in grateful acknowledgements to Messrs. Smith, Elder, & Company for their courtesy in permitting the somewhat liberal drawing on their published Letters of both the Brownings, on which reliance had to be based in any effort to